Sleep Deprivation Foils Plans of World Domination

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We’re coming out of another episode of hit or miss sleeping, and my brain still hasn’t caught up. I just finally got the Halloween and Thanksgiving photos uploaded. I swear Thanksgiving was last week, and Halloween the week before that! But it’s only 16 days until Christmas. Which is day after tomorrow, delirious sleep-deprived time.

But even more exciting, I won a giveaway from one of the sites participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! I’m getting two mini charm packs of Moda Marmalade from Badlands Quilts. I’ve never worked with precuts other than fat quarters, so I’m looking forward to playing with the mini charm size. Maybe after Christmas, so next week.

I was really worried that after the long, hot, dry summer we had, fall would be disappointing. I imagined it still being warm enough to swim during school intersession in October and no pretty leaves at all. Luckily, there has been enough rain to save the leaves, and this past week has been exactly the kind of weather I love for fall – warm days and cool nights. It’s been awesome to have the windows open and the attic fan on in the afternoon when it isn’t raining.

In fact, it’s been damp enough to sprout a fairly epic crop of fungal fruiting bodies, better known to most as mushrooms. We had at least 6 obviously different species of mushroom and two of puffball fungi. I know the puffballs are edible, and I’m pretty sure about two of the mushrooms, but we decided not to risk it this time. V would never eat a mushroom, but Z would not only eat them, she would see them outside and pick and eat them on the spot if we weren’t keeping a close enough eye on her! That’s exactly what she did with the blackberries and mulberries, anyway. Once she she saw the big girls pick some, and we let her pick a few herself, she would slip off to pick and eat more whenever she got the chance. That’s a very bad idea with mushrooms!

It’s just a little upcycled paper basket, but it was really satisfying. I’m looking forward to trying out the same concept in cattail leaves or possibly newspaper, I have a ton of that.

I also managed to grab a few minutes in the craft room to prep for a little sewing. I decided to finish the poly fleece covers and t-shirt fitteds I have cut for E, and make some more training pants for Z since she gets a rash in Pull-Ups and really isn’t ready for real underwear. I ended up tweaking the covers (some more), and I think I like the result enough to make the effort to share the pattern. Maybe. In theory, I get how to scan the patterns in and redraw them to look nice and print correctly. In practice, Inkscape gives me a headache and I manage to screw it up. Eh, I guess I should wait and see how well the modified pattern works before I worry about that. I need to finish the training pants tutorial first, anyway.

Now, what do I want to make? What can I make in the odd minutes I have available right now? I did manage to do a little spindle spinning yesterday while the grandparents played with E, and Z played with her cousins. It felt really good to make something.

Maybe I should tackle my WIPs and UFOs. Just the sewing related ones; the knit, crochet, weaving, spinning, beading, and wirework projects are all either too big to feel like I made any progress in 5 or 10 minutes, or too easy for a certain 2 year old to destroy if I don’t securely put them away each time. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to install a couple of zippers and some elastic, anyway. The little ones could use some more diaper covers and training pants, and those cute little dresses aren’t going to finish themselves.

Maybe I should start something new designed to be done in short spurts. I made a crazy Google Docs spreadsheet to track projects I want to do and to help me keep track of deadlines, and lots of those projects could be broken down that way. Besides, I will need to get started on Halloween costumes soon, and Christmas presents, too!

What will probably happen is a little of both. My sewing WIPs are mostly simple finishing tasks, and won’t take much time to do once I organize them a bit. Designing new projects can be done in my head even when I have my hands full with the kids, and I’ve decided on a really easy jewelry project for my nieces’ Christmas gifts, at least. Now if I can just get both the little ones to nap at the same time!

Or milk, either. With three kids, I’m irritatingly familiar with the restrictions that come with having a baby, and those that come with a toddler. I’ve adapted before. But maybe it’s the combination of the two at the same time that is making this so frustrating. With one baby, there are at least have naps and tummy time to do things. With a toddler, there’s time after she goes to bed. With a big kid and a baby, there seems like plenty of time. But a toddler and a baby? It’s like there’s nothing but children and possibly never will be. I think people that want more than two children spaced this closely on purpose are freaking crazy!

When you are cheering and applauding your child finally pooping on the potty! And your husband comes to see what the ruckus is about because he’s worried that said child destroyed something (again…sigh) and you are yelling at her for that. Candy and stickers were enjoyed by all.

We went to the Washington County Fair, mostly for the livestock. It’s funny; the Benton county fair has more handicraft exhibits, but a lot fewer livestock exhibits. The fancy chickens alone take up half a barn at the Washington County Fair. I managed not to come home with a Jersey Wooly rabbit somehow, but I still think they’d be a great alternative to a high-maintenance Angora. I might have coveted a few sheep, too. The girls loved seeing all the animals, and enjoyed the petting zoo too.

But most of us also rode some rides! Poor Z was just a little too short to ride pretty much everything but the merry go round, and was not happy about that. But V not only rode the merry go round and Ferris wheel like she did the last time, she tried the swings and a little roller coaster! We were really proud of her. Daddy rode with her on the roller coaster and that was pretty funny. E and I didn’t ride anything, but E slept in her sling through most of the two and a half hours we were there. I love that thing.

It’s always ok to talk about the weather, right? Especially when it’s the remains of a hurricane, breaking the hot, dry spell I’ve been grumpy with for months? I was so worried when the wind kicked up ahead of the storm bands yesterday, because we have several trees that need to come down. But the winds never did get worse, it RAINED (but not torrentially), and the temperatures have been lovely! Even the cloud cover has been nice. And no trees came down, although we have a few biggish branches down. But without Isaac, it probably would have been a too-hot, dusty day at the fair instead of the lovely, slightly overcast and breezy day we enjoyed.

So, the almost a year since I’ve posted here as been a busy one. We were rather surprised to find that we were expecting a third child, and I have to admit that it’s been a process to get used to the idea of having a family of five. Of course, now that she’s here, it seems like we were meant to have three daughters. I did not miss this newborn stage of constant eating and random sleeping, though!

E, 6 weeks old and almost too big for newborn clothes

I’m still getting used to having a very active, ummmm “spirited” two year old and a tiny baby. After having a nice big 5 year gap between V and Z, I really think that people who want only two years (or less!) between their children are bonkers. Never mind that it was my original plan to have my children about that far apart; I was 10 years younger when I thought that was a good idea.

Like Granny Weatherwax, I’m still kicking, even if you can’t see it from here. Anybody want to rent a toddler for the purposes of talking yourself out of having a baby? Must have exceptional babyproofing!

Today, I ran across some awesome sites with tips and tutorials for sewing with knits. A lot of people are intimidated by knits, or scarred by a bad first experience using less than ideal materials, but I’ve always liked working with knits. So it’s always nice to find tricks I didn’t already know!